Seeds of Beta vulgaris are germinated in soil. Three weeks after sowing, plantlets are transferred into containers for hydroponics culture.

The macronutrients composition is in mM: 2,00 Ca(NO3) 2, 1,00 MgSO4, 0,88 K2SO4, 0,25 KH2PO4 and the micronutrients composition in µM is 20 FeEDTA, 10 NaCl, 10 H3BO3, 1,00 ZnSO4, 1,00 MnSO4, 0,10 CuSO4, 0,01 (NH4)6Mo7O24. The pH of the solution is adjusted to 5,8 ± 0,1. In the Mg deficiency experiments, plants are fed with a Mg-free nutrient solution, which is the same as above formulated, except that 1,00 mM MgSO4 was replaced by 1,00 mM Na2SO4.